mgo.licio.us

"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

That's a cop out. They may not expressly say "this kid sucks." But by criticizing the coach because for offering him, and accepting the commitment, you're not only implying "this kid sucks" but you're implying it as an assumed fact that the coach doesn't seem to understand.

NFL reporters report what they are told by team execs and agents. If the Jets/Bears told him they weren't interested, which they probably did since they don't want to look like they were turned down, that's what Clayton reported. The problem is that a reporter's job is also to cut through the bullshit. Thus the story looks like Harbaugh was either too expensive (Bears, which they definitely don't want reported) or there wasn't any interest (Jets/Raiders/anyone else). Clayton reported the denial rather than the story.

1) The source for at least one of these guys is Harbaugh's agent. Why would an agent lie to a reporter? As they all are using circumstances to infer that he's staying in the NFL (just as we are using circumstances to infer it's happening), they refuse to consider that they might have been pauns in an agent's plan to make sure Michigan's offer wasn't the "this is Michigan, fergodsakes" offer. At least Brian and others have been open to the idea that in the end, there's an attraction to staying in the pros.

2) Most of these guys "sources" are each other. It's kind of like the 247 Crystal Ball bullshit. One guy gets some piece of information and they all fall in line with their "people I'm talking to are saying..." crap.

I doubt he was ever really in the picture, since his job should be relatively safe after winning the Super Bowl just two years ago. I think the idea of his candidacy was based on the Ray Rice thing and John's reported-and-later-denied dissent over the Ravens keeping Rice initially.

Beyond the utter stupidity of the Denard Robinson quote is the one where he shits on us for being so stupid because we don't like sponsorships and in stadium advertising. Like we're all our grandpas upset because things aren't 1950. Hey asshole! If I wanted that shit as part of my gameday experience, I'd just pay to watch the NFL. Shit, I'd save money in doing so for a superior product! And the players would actually receive money compensation!

You're right, but... reporters are under extreme pressure to deliver content through several media. That's why Angelique shits out a quick rewrite of Michigan's search firm press release, even though it's not even newsworthy. You have to feed the beast and that particular topic - the Michigan coaching search - drives page views like a motherfucker. I don't envy most of them. The guy who posted the Gruden note, though, whoa. Look closer at those trees, fella, you might see the forest.

I was going to post that Harbaugh did really well nationally for Stanford, which fed the program for the four years after he left. It'll be interesting to see if Shaw's recruiting will hold up like Harbaugh's did.

Gruden, Herm Edwards, Belichick, Parcells... all traded within the last 15 years. Only one of them proved to be worth it. (Okay, Gruden was worth it too as Tampa won a SB in his first year, then the whole thing cratered once he had to develop his own QB. But still, they won.)